Indian Institute of Science uses Claude to support next-generation snakebite antivenom research

The Evolutionary Venomics Lab is using Anthropic’s AI through its AI for Science program to curate and annotate venom data as researchers search for targets for an antivenom designed to work across India

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science are using Claude to curate and annotate venom data as part of research into next-generation snakebite antivenom

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru are using Anthropic’s Claude to analyze years of snake venom data as part of work toward a next-generation antivenom intended to work across India.

The project is being carried out by Dr Kartik Sunagar’s Evolutionary Venomics Lab, which has spent years mapping variations in venom among cobras, kraits and vipers across the country.

Anthropic is supporting the work through its AI for Science program. Irina Ghose, Managing Director of Anthropic India, said in a LinkedIn post that Sunagar’s lab was the first in India to receive an AI for Science grant.

The research addresses a problem that varies considerably by geography. Ghose said snakebite kills an estimated 58,000 people in India each year, while commercial antivenom is raised against four snake species using venom collected largely from one district in Tamil Nadu.

According to her post, that means existing antivenom can be less effective against bites in other parts of the country where venom composition differs.

Claude is being used to work through venom data

Sunagar’s team is now using Claude to help curate and annotate the venom data it has collected, with researchers looking for potential targets for an antivenom capable of working across India.

That puts the AI system into a specific part of the research workflow rather than positioning it as a replacement for laboratory or scientific expertise. The work described by Anthropic centers on organizing and interpreting an existing body of venom data so researchers can investigate possible antivenom targets.

Ghose positioned the project as the start of a broader wave of AI for Science work in the country, writing on LinkedIn that “Dr. Sunagar's lab was the first in India to receive an AI for Science grant. India now has many more.”

Anthropic’s wider AI for Science program provides free API credits to researchers working on projects it considers high impact. The company is inviting further applications from researchers interested in using its models for scientific work.

Anthropic expands Claude’s scientific research tools

The project arrives as Anthropic is also expanding Claude specifically for scientific research.

Claude Science, currently in beta, is a separate scientific workbench designed to run analyses, search scientific databases and preserve the steps behind an analysis. Anthropic says the platform can work across areas including genomics, single-cell research, proteomics, structural biology and cheminformatics.

The system is designed to keep figures, tables and notebooks tied to the code, computing environment and conversation that produced them, with support for Python and R as well as scientific databases and research tools.

Anthropic says Claude Science can query more than 60 scientific databases and work across local computers, clusters and GPU infrastructure.

The Indian Institute of Science snakebite project, however, is being supported through Anthropic’s AI for Science program, with Claude being used specifically to curate and annotate the Evolutionary Venomics Lab’s existing data as the team investigates new antivenom targets.